PHILADELPHIA – For years, the Penn women's basketball team has built a championship culture around having one of the best defenses in the Ivy League. In winning three Ivy League titles in the last four years, the Quakers have allowed an average of less than 53 points per game in Ivy contests. On Friday night at The Palestra, an ascendant Yale women's basketball team used its own brand of defense to stifle the Quakers and earn a critical 71-54 win -- a victory that lifts the Bulldogs into a tie with the Quakers for second place in the Ivy standings with three games to go.
This was Yale's first win at The Palestra since Mar. 9, 2013, and Yale's second win at all against the Quakers in 14 games since then. It took a full team effort, with 10 different Bulldogs seeing time and Yale's always ebullient bench providing moral support in the hostile environment.
"This is a tough place to play because of what Mike [McLaughlin, Penn's coach] has built here, their championship culture," said
Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "To get a win like this on the road speaks volumes about our players and their commitment to playing together."
Yale (17-7, 7-4 Ivy League) entered the day one game behind the second-place Quakers in the standings, but the Bulldogs were also just one game ahead of fifth-place Harvard. With only the top four teams making the Ivy League tournament, at this time of year wins become all the more crucial for teams in the neighborhood of that fifth spot. The Bulldogs staked an early claim to Friday's game with an impressive first half, bringing a 29-23 lead into halftime after holding Penn to 29 percent shooting. The Quakers made only one three-point shot. Quaker guard Kayla Padilla entered the night leading the Ivy League in scoring (18.3 points per game) but got just three points Friday -- all in the first half.
"We were so proud of the way we defended together as a unit, and the way we executed the scout," said Guth. "[Junior guard]
Ellen Margaret Andrews was absolutely fantastic against Padilla. [Senior forward
Megan] Gorman and [sophomore forward]
Camilla [Emsbo] were great in their gaps. And [junior guard]
Tori [Andrew] had a great game defensively as well. We were very focused on defending the three-point shot."
Yale outscored the Quakers 27-16 in the third and built its lead to 21 in the fourth. When Penn (17-7, 7-4 Ivy League) attempted to make a run senior guard
Roxy Barahman was there to thwart the Quakers as needed. The home crowd barely had time to get riled up by a three-pointer from guard Katie Kinum on a fast break that cut Yale's lead to 13 before Barahman answered 20 seconds later with a three-pointer of her own. After the Quakers again got within 13 later in the quarter she buried a jumper to ensure that Penn would get no closer. She finished with 29 points (four shy of her career high) and five assists, part of a 13 assist day for the Bulldogs as a team.
"Roxy did a tremendous job of controlling the tempo, especially in the third quarter," said Guth. "She came out and put the team on her back, taking advantage of her opportunities to score while still celebrating one more pass. She led us with five assists in addition to scoring 29. Talk about doing it all!"
Gorman added 13 rebounds -- the third time in the last four games she has reached double digits in that category -- and Emsbo had four blocks. Gorman led the team in +/- at +18.
With the win Yale has tied the 1979-80 squad for the second-most wins in a season in school history (17), two shy of the school record set by the 2017-18 squad.
On Saturday the Bulldogs travel to No. 21/23 Princeton, which clinched the Ivy League title and the No. 1 seed in the tournament Friday night. The Tigers are 11-0 in league play and have won 19 games in a row. Yale is tied with Columbia and Penn for second place in the Ivy League, two games ahead of fifth-place Harvard. The Lions visit Dartmouth while the Quakers host Brown. With a win and a loss by Harvard, the Bulldogs would clinch a spot in the Ivy League Tournament.
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